Posted
by
Unknown Lamer
on Wednesday April 25, 2012 @01:02PM
from the repurposed-as-newt's-moon-scooter dept.

Zothecula writes, quoting Gizmodo "While the Moon may or may not contain life forms, precious metals or even green cheese, recent satellite missions have indicated that it does nonetheless contain something that could prove quite valuable — water ice. NASA has estimated that at least 650 million tons (600 million tonnes) of the stuff could be deposited in craters near the Moon's north pole alone. If mined, it could conceivably serve as a source of life support for future lunar bases, or it could be used to produce fuel for spacecraft stopping at a "lunar gas station." Before any mining can happen, however, we need to learn more about the ice. That's why NASA has contracted Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic Technology to determine if its Polaris rover robot could be used for ice prospecting."

From Polaris rover [gizmag.com] "Already, Astrobotic has reserved the use of a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle to send a spacecraft containing Polaris on a trajectory toward the Moon, for a planned 2015 prospecting mission. That spacecraft should be able to deliver the robot safely to the lunar surface, using a system that allows it to automatically avoid landing hazards such as large rocks or craters â" ", so it's already being addressed

650 million tons of ice sounds impressive, but it's really not a lot considering how much we use.

650,000,000 - tons of ice estimated on the moon's north pole27,000,000,000,000,000 - tons of ice estimated on Antarctica5,400,000,000,000,000 - tons freshwater on Earth excluding Antarctica90 - tons of residential water use per American per year